Progress Reported on Strategic Arms Issues : No Breakthrough Yet on START but Gorbachev Is ‘Ready to Sign’ Before Reagan Leaves Office

President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, concluding their second day at the summit in an atmosphere of continued optimism, Monday reported progress on eliminating two major obstacles to a treaty that would reduce their nations’ strategic nuclear arsenals by 50%.

The reported gains do not yet amount to the kind of breakthrough needed to complete a strategic arms reduction treaty, known as START, by the end of Reagan’s term in January. But a Soviet spokesman declared Monday that the Kremlin wants to conclude such an accord before Reagan leaves office, and White House officials have held out similar hopes.

In a briefing after Monday’s summit sessions, Soviet spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov quoted Gorbachev as saying he was “ready and prepared to sign a treaty with this Administration.” Gerasimov said Reagan had replied “positively,” indicating that he was, too.

No Conclusions Reached

But a senior White House official, in comments after Monday night’s state dinner at the Kremlin, said that “while some progress has been made, they are not reaching any conclusions.”

The official had spoken more optimistically earlier in the evening but called a briefing late Monday night in order to dampen what he considered undue optimism on START.

Aides said final agreement is likely to be reached here on two lesser arms accords. One provides for advance notice of missile tests that begin and end inside either country’s borders. The other sets ground rules for joint experiments on monitoring underground nuclear tests.

At the same time, U.S. officials responded coolly to a Soviet proposal, tendered for the first time Monday, to reduce the conventional forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Soviet-led Warsaw Bloc countries by 500,000 men each. The Soviet plan was put forward as part of a multi-phased agreement to scale back all types of non-nuclear forces.

The Administration, besides viewing the offer as a long-awaited political ploy aimed at West Europeans, wants a Soviet commitment to further human rights progress before agreeing to new conventional arms talks. It also wants those talks to begin not with manpower levels but with the most threatening offensive weapons, such as tanks, in which the Warsaw Bloc has a 2-1 advantage.

While Monday’s Reagan-Gorbachev talks focused almost exclusively on arms control, the President’s public schedule was again dominated by events arranged to demonstrate his continuing concern for human rights issues inside the Soviet Union.

The President’s emphasis on human rights has irritated Soviet officials, who have complained that Reagan’s comments represented an intrusion into Soviet domestic affairs.

While praising improvements in U.S.-Soviet relations, Gorbachev struck the same note at the state dinner Monday night. He declared that personal contacts would succeed only “without interfering in domestic affairs . . . or imposing one’s views and ways. . . .”

Reagan visited an ancient Russian Orthodox monastery to emphasis free religious expression and held an unprecedented meeting at the U.S. Embassy with Jewish refuseniks and other Soviet dissidents, some of whom had ignored police warnings and traveled great distances to attend.

“The United States views human rights as fundamental--absolutely fundamental--to our relationship with the Soviet Union and all nations,” Reagan said.

No Progress on 2 Issues

Despite the progress on START and the generally upbeat atmosphere that has marked the Moscow summit so far, the superpowers have made no headway resolving two other major issues standing in the way of a strategic arms treaty:

--A disagreement over how sea-launched cruise missiles are to be counted.

--Differing interpretations of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which the Soviets say must be narrowly interpreted so as to sharply restrict work on Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Star Wars.”

In a move underscoring the two sides’ desire to press the START negotiations, Fitzwater announced that Marshal Sergei F. Akhromeyev, chief of the Soviet General Staff, has accepted an invitation from Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to visit Washington in July.

Akhromeyev and Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov held a lengthy meeting on arms control and other military matters Monday with Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci, Assistant Secretary of Defense Ronald F. Lehman and Vice Adm. Jonathan T. Howe, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

No Positive Soviet Response

Although the Soviets put great emphasis on Gorbachev’s proposals for reducing conventional forces in Europe, U.S. officials say they so far have failed to respond positively to a NATO proposal that has been on the table since Dec. 5, 1985.

That proposal met one Soviet objection by deferring a Western demand for an agreement to supply data on current forces before the treaty is signed. It also called for a limited, first-phase withdrawal from Central Europe of 5,000 U.S. and 11,500 Soviet troops, followed by a three-year commitment by all parties with forces in this zone not to increase the numbers of remaining troops.

In discussing the Soviet position, Gerasimov said much had been made in the West about the overwhelming superiority of Warsaw Pact forces, but that while there is some asymmetry, “there isn’t a very big imbalance here.”

The Gorbachev proposal, Gerasimov said, calls for an immediate inspection to see what should be cut, followed by a reduction of 500,000 troops on both sides and by a program to turn all armaments and forces into “defensive characters.”

Fitzwater, at the late-afternoon briefing, declared there is “a significant disagreement with the Soviets” on the conventional forces issue.

‘Must Achieve Parity’

“We do indeed believe there’s an imbalance between conventional forces in the Warsaw Pact countries and the NATO forces,” he declared, “and further, that we must achieve a parity in that area before we can go on to further nuclear reductions.”

Reagan’s summit session with Gorbachev was held in the Kremlin’s Hall of St. Catherine, a room of chandeliers, brocade walls and an inlaid wooden floor.

Thirty seconds after a clock in the room chimed 10 a.m., the appointed hour for the leaders’ second meeting of the summit, the gold doors at either end of the hall opened, with Gorbachev and the Soviet delegation walking through one doorway and Reagan leading the Americans through the other.

The two leaders will continue their discussions today and Wednesday.

Neither leader commented publicly Monday on the progress of their summit dialogue, which focused on arms control, but both found occasion to comment publicly on human rights.

Aware of Rights ‘Improvements’

During a picture-taking session at the start of Reagan’s meeting with Gorbachev, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes, the President said in response to a reporter’s question that he was “aware of big improvements” in the area of human rights issues in the Soviet Union.

And Gorbachev, asked whether he was upset by Reagan’s frequent mention of human rights in public statements leading up to the five-day visit, said “it would be a good thing” if Reagan acted favorably on his proposal Sunday to set up a U.S.-Soviet legislative seminar on the issue.

Then, asked whether he would act on a list of 14 human rights cases Reagan presented at their first summit meeting Sunday, the Soviet leader replied, “There are too many lists.”

To the irritation of his Soviet hosts, Reagan later welcomed 96 dissidents, refuseniks and their families to a highly publicized meeting at Spaso House, the official residence of U.S. Ambassador Jack F. Matlock Jr.

While saluting increased respect for human rights in the Soviet Union, the President declared during the 55-minute session:

“Whatever the future may bring, the commitment of the United States will nevertheless remain unshakable on human rights. On the fundamental dignity of the human person, there can be no relenting, for now we must work for more--always more.”

He added, “While we press for human rights through diplomatic channels, you press with your very lives, day in, day out, year after year, risking your jobs, your homes, your all.”

Offered coffee in white china cups edged with gold, and cookies served on doilies and silver plates, the dissidents and refuseniks met Reagan in the same ballroom where the President and First Lady Nancy Reagan host a dinner for Gorbachev this evening.

After the President departed, some of the embassy guests expressed only limited optimism that Reagan’s speech and the visit would accomplish anything.

And Yelena Sirotenko, wife of imprisoned Paruyr Ayrikyan, appeared preoccupied and worried, expressing little hope that the meeting would aid her husband.

Can’t Contact Prisoner

“If it would be useful to him, that would be good, but I have little hope right now. We can’t even have any contact with him,” she said.

Earlier, in a meeting that attracted less Soviet opposition, Reagan spoke with monks at the Danilov Monastery, the administrative center of the Russian Orthodox church and a restored monastery that was founded 700 years ago.

Referring to a more relaxed attitude toward the practice of religion in recent months than had prevailed in the Soviet Union during recent generations, Reagan said: “In our prayers we may keep . . . in mind the thought that the bells may ring again, sounding throughout Moscow and across the countryside, clamoring for joy in their new found freedom.”

He was referring to the fact that Moscow was once known for its profusion of churches and bell towers, but the 40 churches active now seldom sound their bells.

Perhaps because of his prior public references to the bells, Reagan’s visit to the white-walled monastery, whose dark green turrets and gold onion-shaped domes stood out against a crystal-blue sky, was an exception to this pattern of silence.

Songs and Pealing Bells

His arrival was heralded by pealing bells and the songs of monks. Well before the President arrived, about 200 people had gathered across the street, awaiting the black, armor-plated limousine he uses in Washington and on all trips.

The day ended with the state dinner, held in the Kremlin’s ornate Hall of Facets. In an exchange of toasts, Reagan praised progress made in U.S.-Soviet ties, saying: “We have taken that first step to build that network of personal relationships and understanding between societies, between people, that are crucial to dispelling dangerous misconceptions and stereotypes.”

In his toast, Gorbachev complimented the President for what he termed his growing sense of “realism” in his views on the Soviet Union.

“I like the notion of realism, and I also like the fact that you, Mr. President, have lately been uttering it more and more often.”

Despite the punishing pace of the summit schedule, Reagan did not appear fatigued at the dinner.